Land of Enchantment Quilt...the Beginning

The other day I mentioned this quilt:

 It's in the latest issue of Quiltmaker.
I have these pillows:

And a cream comforter that needs some color added to it.
Enter this quilt. Southwest inspired. I love the modern fabrics used, but I am going for the more traditional Southwestern colors. I am keeping the turquoise, but losing the green. After Easy Street, I need a break from green.

In the magazine, it's called Dream On, but I'm going with Land of Enchantment.

I am going to add more rows, turn the pattern horizontally, and yes, make it bigger. :)

And I think it will be perfect folded at the foot of the bed. I am off to do some math!

A few days ago, sweet Pat from, Life in the Scrapatch, nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award.

I am humbled that any of y'all take time out from your busy day to peek into life here at the end of the dirt road, and I can not tell you how thrilled I am that you do. I love your comments and appreciate that you take the time to leave them. Thank you so much Pat!

I'm supposed to nominate some other blogs, but I hope y'all don't mind if I don't do that. I love reading y'all's  blogs and I think all of y'all are such fun, but  I know most of y'all have already been nominated. I will play by half of the rules and list 7 things about myself:

1. I am a social hermit.
2. I love music and have a very eclectic taste.
3. I am a voracious reader. I am fascinated by biographies - people lead such interesting lives!
4. I once played pool with George Strait and his wife.
5. My Mom was approached by a sheik who wanted me to be a part of his harem when I was 12. LOL.
6. DH and I once won a hunting trip in Africa at the Safari Club Banquet.
7. I have made dinner for Tommy Lee Jones in my home.

That was hard!

Yellow and Gray HSTs

I finally started cutting into the pile of yellows and grays for Haley's Wedding Quilt. Lots of HSTs  will come together to make what I hope is  a lovely gift for a sweet girl and her groom-to-be. We've known this child since she was 2, and it is hard to  reconcile those childhood memories with the gorgeous woman that will soon walk down the aisle.

This child has the most amazing red hair. The kind that so many people try to coerce from a bottle, yet she has a glorious crown of the prettiest hair you have ever seen...naturally. However, that is not the prettiest thing about her. That would be her heart. She is bright and pretty and witty and funny and wise and kind and all things lovely. Her parents are pretty amazing too so it's a case of the apple not falling far from the tree.

I remember one day very clearly. She was probably 6, and our girl was 3. We were all spending a Sunday afternoon at a friend's arena watching the men rope. Spent lots and lots of Sunday afternoons there. Gave us girls a chance to catch up and cheer the boys on and the kids just created one adventure after another in the farm fields.

On this particular day, our girl was running and when she fell, she acquired a mouthful of dirt. As she sat up to spew it out and make those funny faces that kids with a mouthful of dirt make, Haley sat down next to her and proceeded to put a handful of dirt into her own mouth. Our daughter just looked at her wide eyed and asked her why she did that. Haley said she felt bad and thought it would make our girl feel better if she too had a mouthful of dirt. LOL.

So, how many of us would do that? I'm betting not many, but Haley has the kindest heart and does not like to see anyone in distress. It's what I remember most from those years.

And now she is a grown woman and her impending wedding is cause for the creation of a quilt. So, I stitched hsts all weekend until I had enough.

I am thinking chevrons:

But I may let them go rogue:

Still deciding. Do you have a preference?

And the List Continues to Grow...

I started out the year with 18 UFO's and a resolute determination to finish these rascals. People that do not quilt, do not understand. How hard can that be? Finish what you started. Ha! Really? People do that?

The projects just keep coming. How does this happen?

Dear friends' daughter is getting married.
A sweet niece is expecting  a baby.
More friends getting married.
Another baby is on the way.
A Rancher's Daughter quilt along is announced - can't pass that one up!
Let's learn to embroider. Oh, there's an embroidery hop - how convenient.
A baby shower for expectant mamas whose husbands' are deployed.
Don't read that blog. Oh - must make that table runner
Don't open that magazine. Need to make this quilt now!
Snoopy fabric? Well of course this house must have a Snoopy quilt!

Honestly! What's a gal to do? Just writing this makes me chuckle. It's crazy. And it's only the middle of February. I think I need an intervention...

and a few moments to pull fabrics for this quilt:

  About that intervention...

At the End of Easy Street...

 there was lots of piecing, lots of pinning and lots of pressing, but I persevered... and the top is complete:

I have been fickle about this quilt. I loved it. I loved it not. And back again.

When I was pressing it, which took almost an hour, I fell back in love with it. It gave me time to really study the design and the way Bonnie worked everything out. Really, the woman is brilliant. Still too much green in it for me, but the addition of the borders quiets them back down a bit. I just bordered it the same way that Bonnie did and I think it tamed the greens a tad.

However, Easy Street was not so easy for me. Don't know how so many of you managed to get it pieced so quickly. I was lagging behind the entire time and only by unflagging determination did I manage to get it pieced now.

Backing is next up. I don't have enough of anything for this big, old quilt. At first I thought I would back it with a gray to tone it all down, but then I stumbled upon this print.

It's 108" and at $9.80, I can back Easy Street for less than $40, thus it jumped into my cart and my dear UPS driver, Tony, will soon be delivering my purple backing via his trusty brown truck. Do you know that this is the first place we have ever lived where UPS would deliver packages to us? He's such a sweet man and he always brings such lovely packages that allow me to stay at the end of my dirt road and enjoy another amazing sky at sunset:

And yes, that's  a rock setting on top of my feeder. Without it, the wind tosses it off. When the wind gets feisty, it can empty a full feeder in less than 2 minutes. When the wind REALLY gets to howling, the rock is gone. It happened on Saturday...again. In the spring, I can go through a 40# sack of birdseed awfully fast. When that starts to happen, the birds are on their own, but they need worry not. I have yet to see a skinny bird around here. Come to think of it - the birds aren't the only thing packing a bit of extra fluff around here. Wish I could blame my fluff on feathers and birdseed...